The Obama campaign mobilized two million more young voters last year, but it was the record turnout among young voters of color under 30 that contributed most to Pres. Obama’s historic margin. Hip Hop Congress was among a handful of youth groups in the U.S. that contributed to this spike with their unique focus on voter mobilization among the hip hop generation.
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When the Hip Hop Congress was first formed in 1993, the organization’s biggest challenge was freeing hip-hop culture from its negative public perceptions. At first, highlighting the positive elements of hip-hop was an uphill battle.
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Now, even the U.S. president claims to have hip-hop on his iPod. And as hip-hop has moved into the cultural mainstream, Hip Hop Congress has moved into the political mainstream, too. One of the largest hip-hop organizations in the country, this collective of artists, educators and community leaders is now stepping into a new role as a respected political force in their communities.
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The Cincinnati chapter of the Hip Hop Congress, based in a part of town called Over-The-Rhine, is a particularly good example of what Hip Hop Congress is doing. The neighborhood acquired it’s most unfortunate claim to fame in April 2001. That was when it became the epicenter of racially charged riots that erupted in Cincinnati following the police shooting of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed black man. But with the help of Hip Hop Congress, it is becoming an important part of revitalizing their part of downtown.
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Led by 26-year-old Hakiym Sha’ir, the chapter helps students apply for college, mentors at-risk youth, leads voter registration drives, helps to maintain an urban garden, and cleans up local parks. Sha’ir and other members of the chapter serve on Mayor Mark Mallory’s board of youth advisors. The organization’s communications executive, Lamonte “Blade Triple” Young leads their own audio/visual group called Hentertainment, which airs programs on local television. The television program also helps at-risk youths prepare for careers in technical engineering, photography and videography.
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We caught up with Sha’ir this September in Cincinnati to talk about the different ways in which Hip Hop Congress is still mobilizing the Obama youth a year after his inauguration.
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URB: Sarah Saheeb, an organizer for the Cincinnati Service Employees International Union (SEIU) got the city to lease a plot of land for an urban farm in Over-the-Rhine. When she approached the Hip Hop Congress to become part of the coalition of groups helping to maintain it, why did you choose to get involved?
HAKIYN SHA’IR: Instead of Cincinnati being a blueprint for how the police deal with violence, it can be a blueprint for how we can teach people to be self-sustainable and beautify their neighborhoods. Hip-hop is a culture. And the root of any culture is to cultivate. So we’ve got to cultivate our minds, bodies and spirits. Every culture has a diet; every culture needs to eat. And for the people in Over-The-Rhine who listen to hip-hop, people like Dead Prez and Mos Def have songs about eating healthy. So, when you get into the hip-hop messages that are being put out there, somebody needs to actually do the work so that people can see what it looks like. We’re not getting anything in return fiscally from the community garden but it’s something that we want to provide for the community. The food [that's already available] is sub-par and there are no health food stores. We need some healthy alternatives for the residents here. Hopefully, this will spread and we’ll be giving home gardening, self-sustainability classes. And [we will be] doing barbeques and spoken word there so it will attract more people. We want a lot of attention to be brought to this, so that we can change the policy of the city and have urban garden projects all over, not only in Cincinnati, but in other areas as well.
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URB: You and other members of the Cincinnati Hip Hop Congress serve on Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory’s Young Professional Kitchen Cabinet (a board of youth oriented advisers). How did that come about?
SHA’IR: Last year I was actually approached by Coby Williams, one of the members of the civic engagement committee. He thought that what we had going on with Hip Hop Congress would be very influential in the city engagement realm. We did voter registration and a lot of different surveys in Over-the-Rhine with at-risk youth. We asked them about alternatives to selling illegal substances [and] what would they rather be doing as far as a legal job. I think that’s what got them [city officials] to raise their eyebrows. We are the people who are actually civically engaging in the community, so they came to us to see what the community actually thinks.
I’m one of 20 members of the arts and entertainment committee. We plan different events for the city. We try to make this place a more attractive, more magnetic place for young professionals. Personally, my job with Hip Hop Congress and the mayor’s cabinet is about speaking for the people.
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Big ups to Geoffrey on this story. I absolutely love what Hip Hop Congress is doing. Hip hop needs a more positive reputation, and this organization is helping to do just that. Gotta love it.